Stars aim to reverse road woes during six-game trip

The Dallas Stars headed out for a road trip Saturday afternoon. A long one. And a big one. The Stars will play six straight games away from home in 10 days starting Sunday in Detroit.
They'll take on the Red Wings, Montreal, Toronto, Washington, Boston, and Columbus. It's a key stretch for the Stars, who fell flat in their first two road games this season, have struggled away from home the past two seasons and face a road-heavy schedule the next seven weeks.
"I think it is imperative that we are above .500 on this trip," Stars coach Jim Montgomery said Saturday, "for team confidence and continued growth of how we want to build this team and staying on the bubble of the playoffs because our schedule this month, starting now, is not favorable."

This upcoming road trip begins a stretch that will see the Stars play 13 of the next 18 and 17 of the next 24 on the road.
The team's road woes have been well-documented. They were 16-20-5 away from home last season and 12-24-5 in 2016-17. This season, they started off their road schedule with a pair of losses, 4-1 at Ottawa and 3-0 at New Jersey. Montgomery said he believes the struggles from past seasons have carried over into this season.
"Absolutely. You saw the way we played the first two games," Montgomery said. "It's definitely on their mind, and that's why we are going to have a meeting when we get to Detroit about that."
Stars defenseman John Klingberg said it the road has become a mental thing with the team, but the Stars need to find a way to dictate play when they are away from home.

"The [home team] dictates the changes, but that shouldn't be any difference maker," Klingberg said. "I think it is just the mentality about the feeling when you play at home; you get energy from the crowd when you do something good on the ice. I think we should pump each other, pump each other on the bench. And not worry about making mistakes, because mistakes are going to be there.
"I think it's important that you dictate the game, even if you are on the road. I remember when we won the conference my second year I remember how good our road record was. Whether we were playing at home or on the road, everyone had the same confidence with how we wanted to play.
"I think that is where we need to get to."
The Stars will head into the trip with some confidence after back-to-back wins to close out this recent homestand. Wins over Los Angeles and Anaheim came on the heels of a three-game losing streak and helped put the Stars to 5-4-0 on the season as they head out on the road.
"It could have been completely different if we had lost these two home games. We would have been going into the road trip a little bit anxious, a little bit nervous," said Stars center Jason Dickinson. "But these two home games set us up nicely that we can go into a road trip, a long one, and be confident, be strong and be happy with our game and keep pushing."
And the hope is the Stars can push their way into some success on the road as they start this key stretch of games.
"Attitude. Attitude," Montgomery said. "We've got to have an attitude of us against the world. That may be a little bit of an exaggeration, but we've got to have an attitude that we are coming in here to do a job and execute."

Odds and ends

Forward Alexander Radulov, who has missed the past three games with a lower-body injury, practiced Saturday morning in Frisco but left a little early after the injury tightened. Montgomery said Radulov would be evaluated on Sunday. If Radulov doesn't play, Justin Dowlingwill skate on the top line with Jamie Bennand Tyler Seguin.
Defenseman Stephen Johns, who has not played this season due to post-traumatic headaches, will not play Sunday but he will travel on the road trip. Montgomery said Johns feels he is not ready to play, but there is hope he could be ready at some point during the trip.
Ben Bishop will get the start in goal on Sunday. Montgomery said that Anton Khudobin is expected to start two games during the six-game trip.

Practice lineup

Here's how the Stars lined up in Saturday's practice:
Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov/Justin Dowling
Devin Shore - Jason Spezza - Tyler Pitlick
Mattias Janmark - Jason Dickinson - Blake Comeau
Valeri Nichushkin - Radek Faksa - Brett Ritchie/Gemel Smith
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Marc Methot - Miro Heiskanen
Julius Honka - Roman Polak
Connor Carrick - Stephen Johns
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Photo credit: Jeff Toates / DallasStars.com
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mark Stepneski has covered the Stars for DallasStars.com since 2012. Follow him on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.